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A seven part series exploring the fantastic world of science.
Find out about the different types of teeth in your mouth.
Milk Teeth
Adult Teeth
As a child you have 20 milk teeth. Your
first tooth appears when you are between
6 – 7 months old. By 3 years of age you
have a full set of milk teeth. Between the
ages of 5 – 6 years your milk teeth begin
to fall out and are replaced by adult teeth.
Adults have a total of 32 teeth: 8 incisors,
4 canines, 8 premolars and 12 molars.
You will have the majority of your adult teeth
by the age of 14. Your adult teeth grow in
the same place in your mouth as your milk
teeth and are similar in appearance. The main
difference between adult and milk teeth is
that adult teeth have roots.
Incisors
You have 8 incisors, 4 in the
top of your mouth and 4 in the
bottom. Incisors are flat teeth
with sharp ends, which are
used to cut and chop food
into bite-size pieces.
Canines
You have 4 canines, 2 in the
top of your mouth and 2 in
the bottom. Canines are the
sharpest teeth in your mouth
and you use them to tear food.
Wisdom
These are the 4 molars
that appear in your late
teens – early twenties.
These teeth are not very
useful and adults often
have them removed.
Molars
Premolars
You have 8 premolars, 4 in the
top and 4 in the bottom. Premolars
are strong, flat teeth with ridges.
You use these teeth for crushing
and grinding.
Tongue
You have 8 molars, 4 in the
top of your mouth and 4 in
the bottom. Your molars are
wider and stronger than your
premolars and they have more
ridges. Your molars are used
to grind and chew your food
and help with the first stage
of digestion.
After your teeth have chewed your food,
your tongue helps you to swallow your food.
Did you know?
Sharks lose their teeth every
week. However these teeth
are replaced. This means that
a shark can have over 20,000
teeth during its life.
Did you know?
Have a go!
Learn more about your teeth by
completing the ‘What’s in your
mouth?’ activity sheet.
Giraffes have 32 teeth,
just like humans. Elephants
go through 6 sets of teeth
in their lifetime, unlike
humans that just have
two sets of teeth.
Find out about the different parts that make up a tooth.
Teeth and Digestion
Your teeth are involved in the first stage of digestion. Teeth
chop, grind and chew food that is then mixed with saliva.
Saliva contains enzymes that begin to break down food.
Did you know?
Crown
Enamel
The crown is the part of
the tooth that you can see
above the gum. The crown
of the tooth is covered
in enamel.
Enamel is the hardest substance in the
body. It coats the outside of each tooth
and protects the inner parts of the tooth.
Dentin
Dentin is found underneath
the enamel and makes
up the largest part of the
tooth. It helps to protect
the soft tissue parts of the
tooth, such as the pulp.
Pulp
The pulp of your tooth contains nerve endings and
blood vessels, which keep
the tooth alive and healthy.
Did you know?
If your teeth hurt when
you drink something hot
or eat something really
cold, it is the pulp part
of your tooth that feels
the pain.
Root
The root is the part of your
tooth that you cannot see
because it is hidden under
your gum. The dentin and
pulp stretches from the
crown of a tooth down
to the root.
Did you know?
You will produce 20,000 litres
of saliva in your lifetime. This
means that you produce 3
times your bodyweight of saliva every year!
Have a go!
Put your teeth and saliva to the test
with the cream cracker challenge.
How many cream crackers you can
eat in one minute?
Find out why all animals do not have the same types of teeth and what they
use their teeth for. The teeth in an animal skull can tell you lots about it. The
type, shape and number of teeth can tell you about the animal’s diet.
Carnivores
• Cats, dogs and foxes are examples of carnivores.
Their diet consists mainly of meat.
• Carnivores have long, sharp teeth which indicate
that the animal is a predator. These sharp pointed
teeth are called canines.
• Canines are used to grab, hold and kill prey.
Canines also help to tear and rip flesh.
• Carnivores often have very small incisors and their
molars are often more pointed, which they use to
cut meat and bones.
Herbivores
• Sheep, cows and rabbits are examples of herbivores.
Their diet consists mainly of plant material.
• In order to digest their food properly, herbivores need
to chew their food really well.
• Herbivores use flat, sharp incisors to snip and cut
plant material.
• Herbivores also have large, strong molars that they
use to chew and grind plant material.
• Herbivores do not have any canine teeth, as there
is no meat in their diet. Instead the gap is called
a diastema.
Omnivores
• Pigs, bears and humans are examples of omnivores.
They eat a varied diet of both meat and plant material.
• Due to their varied diet omnivores have all 4 different
types of teeth, see the Types of Teeth page.
Did you know?
That a rabbit eats it’s own poo! Since the
diet of a rabbit mainly consists of plant
matter, which is high in fibre and low in
protein, the rabbit must digest the food
twice to extract all the nutrients.
It is really important that you look after your teeth, as you only have one
set of adult teeth, which have to last you your entire life!
Top tips for healthy teeth
Have a go!
• Brushing your teeth with fluoride toothpaste at least twice
a day. It is particularly important that you brush your teeth
before you go to bed.
It is recommended that you brush
your teeth for at least two minutes.
Tonight before you go to bed, time
yourself brushing your teeth for
two minutes.
• When brushing your teeth, it is best to brush up and down
rather than side to side.
• As well as brushing your teeth, you should floss your teeth
once a day, to remove plaque and food that your toothbrush
cannot reach.
• Prevent tooth decay by eating fewer sugary snacks and
drinks. Restrict sugary drinks to meal times.
• Visit the dentist and dental hygienist every 6 months
for regular check ups.
• Keep your teeth healthy by including calcium, vitamin C
and mineral salts in your diet.
Did you know?
Plaque is made up mainly of bacteria.
The bacteria feed on the sugar in your
diet and produce acid. The acid attacks
the teeth and can eventually cause a
cavity to form.
It is possible to learn about extinct animals from their teeth. Teeth are harder than bone, so they fossilise more quickly. There have been lots of examples of dinosaur teeth discovered. From these teeth it is possible to tell the
types of food the dinosaur ate, how they obtained their food and their digestive systems. In fact some species of dinosaur are only known from their
fossilised teeth.
The number of teeth
a dinosaur had varied
from none to nearly
one thousand.
Tyrannosaurus rex
Tyrannosaurus rex had between 50
and 60 teeth, which were thick and very
sharp. T-rex was a meat eating predator
and it used these sharp teeth to crunch
through bone.
Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus was a herbivore and
used the small cheek teeth it had
to eat plant material.
Even millions of years ago,
different species of dinosaurs
had specialised teeth for different
tasks, just as animals today do.
However, unlike most present-day
animals, the teeth of dinosaurs
were replaceable. So if a dinosaur
lost or broke a tooth, another
was grown as a replacement.
Oviraptor
Oviraptor was thought to be an omnivore.
Although the oviraptor had a toothless
beak, it had a strong jaw that it used to
crush eggs it had stolen from nests.
Have a go!
Make a copy of the worksheet and complete all the tasks and questions.
Name:
1. Can you identify the different types of teeth? Fill in the blanks below.
2. What type of teeth are used for chewing and grinding?
3. What type of teeth are used for biting and cutting?
4. What type of teeth are used for ripping and tearing?
5. Have a look in your own mouth. How many teeth do you have?
6. Name the type of teeth that appear in your late teens?
7. How many teeth does an adult have?
8. How many sets of teeth will you have during your life?
Design: www.d8web.co.uk
Have a go!
Make a copy of the worksheet, then have a look at the animals on the front.
Can you work out who the skull belongs to?
Choose from: Chimpanzee, Human, Crocodile, Rabbit
Sabre Tooth Tiger, Deer, Tyrannosaurus Rex or Lion.
Name of animal
Name of animal
Name of animal
Name of animal
I though this skull matched
this animal because...
I though this skull matched
this animal because...
I though this skull matched
this animal because...
I though this skull matched
this animal because...
Name of animal
Name of animal
Name of animal
Name of animal
I though this skull matched
this animal because...
I though this skull matched
this animal because...
I though this skull matched
this animal because...
I though this skull matched
this animal because...